#35 – DO WE REALLY CARE FOR AND ABOUT RISK? – UMBERTO TUNESI

Umberto Tunesi pixYes, indeed: we give birth to Risk, nourish Risk, make it grow.

Some facts:

We all know that the Germans are quite maniac at safety – when they want: in a factory making body steel parts for some BMW models.   You have to wear a safety helmet when walking around a multi-tons steel-coils-handling crane. Now, what a poly-propylene crash helmet would do to protect your head, I leave it to your imagination. Continue reading

#35 – HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS – BILL POMFRET

Bill Pomfret pixNo other safety related activity could produce a status evaluation of any industrial or commercial enterprise better than a comprehensive audit.  Performed professionally, audits provide management with answers based on facts, which in turn, generate appropriate solutions to problems.  As safety professionals, it is our responsibility to ensure that we help managers ensure that their actions and activities within their mandate are based on facts. Continue reading

CERM Risk Insights #34

Hello Readers:

This year, 2013, was huge for risk and risk management.  ISO is adopting risk in most of its standards.  This is occurring with most national standards.  Global events such as comets, global warming, natural disasters, and political events are increasing in complexity and ferocity.  VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) is the new normal.
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is evolving into a discipline.  Organizations and associations are adopting ERM and are even rebranding themselves as ERM organizations.  ERM is being incorporated into statute, rules, standards and guidelines in more than 23 sectors. Continue reading

#33 – MECHANISTIC VS. ORGANIC QUALITY THINKING – IAN ROSAM / ROB PEDDLE

Ian rosamFor most of the 20th Century, Business Schools, management training and Quality have promoted a method of management that seeks to exert control by believing you can predict future events and what people will do. Based on this assumption you can, in theory, control this by putting in place objectives, targets, work methods, controls, regulations and standards, etc. and check it is happening as you predict it should, through the deployment of KPIs, conformance/compliance auditing and other traditional ‘top-down’ approaches. Continue reading